Sunday, February 22, 2009

Last week Teresa and Mitch decided to make a spontaneous trip to Utah before Mitch had to be back to work. They flew me out to meet them in Vegas and make the partial drive with them. This was my week:

Tuesday: Flew into Vegas, took a cab to the Venetian where Teresa and Mitch were staying. We ate dinner, played on our computers, and pretty much just went to bed.

Wednesday: Got a late start as always. Bought a 20 pound chocolate cake from The Grand Lux Cafe for Melissa, and started the long drive to Logan. During the way, Hudson had his first "blow out" diaper, and Easton got freaked out when he was in the bathroom with me and the automatic lights went off. After making it to Logan, Easton kept pointing to the wall, while sort of whimpering. I finally discovered that he was pointing at his shadow. I guess that freaked him out as well. Ha ha.

Thursday: Dinner at Tony & Melissa's. Melissa made lasagna, but the highlight was the chocolate cake. The kids picked at the chocolate chips, and couldn't wait to dig in. It was the most delicious cake ever! Mitch and I then went to play in my indoor soccer game, and while I was thinking he would turf it within 5 seconds of stepping on the field, he actually did quite well and didn't fall until the second half when his legs were so fatigued. I was impressed.

Friday: Soup with Grandma. Teresa made chicken soup with dumplings (I added noodles), and it was amazing. Grandma's house has always been a comforting place for us, and it was nice to spend time with her.

Saturday: Monster truck show. Mitch and Easton went down to Salt Lake with me, AJ, and Kimball to see the Monster Trucks. Despite the weather and traffic, it was a lot of fun. We stopped at the Gateway Apple store on the way home to get Teresa a Valentines present, and had pizza at Kimmie and Bryce's that night.

Sunday: Teresa and Mitch left, and that was that. The days go by so fast, and there never seems to be enough time. I always hate it when they leave.

We all wish Ami and Brandon could have made the trip as well, but hopefully we can all get together as siblings soon. I have the best brothers and sisters anyone could ask for.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

My day with the boys finally came, but of all the days to have a snow storm, it had to be a day when we had to travel to Salt Lake. Since I had an extra ticket, and Mitch and Teresa were in town for a surprise visit, Mitch and Easton came along for the fun. Roads were fine for the most part, but due to the storm earlier, it had caused several accidents on the freeway. It took us a good hour just to get through Willard, and we ended up being 45 minutes late for the show.

AJ and Kimball were funny because Kimball prides himself on going to sleep "only one time a day", meaning he doesn't take naps anymore... "except when he's sick" of course. During the traffic jam, though, he was drifting off and AJ was giving him grief and teasing him about it, which would make Kimball mad. Kimball finally fell asleep, and it didn't take long for AJ to do the same. I had to take this picture to show AJ that he takes naps too, and probably shouldn't tease is little brother so much about it. Ha ha.

Three tired boys

We ended up being 45 minutes late for the show, but luckily we didn't miss too much. We got there in time to see the final of the monster truck races, or whatever it was, and all of the motocross and monster truck freestyle. Easton LOVED the motocross freestyle, and AJ and Kimball pretty much loved everything. As we left, the kids said they wanted to do that every time. That was my first Monster Truck experience, and it wasn't quite as "white trash-y" as I thought it would be. I have to admit it was quite entertaining, and I would probably do it again.

Me, Kimball, and AJ

Easton

The drive home was a breeze as it was nice and even sunny... until we got back to Logan where the storm had just hit again. Is it EVER going to be spring???

Sunday, February 8, 2009

I've decided I need to recharge every couple of months, and the best way to do that is visit my family in California. We always have a great time, and last weekend I took advantage of the time Mitch had off (he's on "paternity" leave). Since it was Superbowl weekend, and his Cardinals were playing, it was even more special (until the Cards lost). Anyhow, listed blow are the updates on everyone.

1- Getting to meet Hudson for the first time. Although he's suffering from "Colic syndrome", he's still the cutest little butterball. Funniest quote came from Brandon when he asked the little sumo... "How many chins do you have now?"

2- Easton is in the fun, cute stage right now. He's talking so much, and is so cute with his "baby brother". Funniest quote from Easton came when he noticed I had some candy. I thought I was being sneaky, but the kid has hawk eyes. He came up to me and said... "trick or treat".

3- Fallon and her project. Fallon had a school math project and had to triple the size of a Junior Mints box. She spent a lot of time on it and it looked amazing at the end. Funny quotes came the next day, when Teresa and I woke up early to take her to school...

Sly: "Do you have all your stuff?"

Fallon: "Mmm hmm... it's in the car."

Sly: "Do you have your Junior Mints box?" (I had seen it on the table in the dining room just a few minutes earlier)

Fallon: "Ohhhh...."

4- Mitch & Teresa are suffering from lack of sleep and deal quite well with it... for the most part. We had a great kid-less night out (well except for Fallon) on Saturday and met Ami and Brandon for dinner at Houston's. It's always a highlight when we can all joke around together. Mitch of course was devastated that his Cards lost, and Teresa and I looked forward everyday to see what Bryce was up to on facebook.

5- Ami & Brandon were absent the last few days due to Ami being sick. They missed out on the Superbowl, or rather we missed out on Brandon's chocolate chip cookies. Funny quotes about this were between Teresa and I when Ami said she wasn't up to coming over.

Sly: "Ami said she's not up for a lot of people... she's not coming. She said Brandon even made his chocolate chip cookies."

Teresa: "Well... can Brandon come?"

It was a great trip, and I have put together a nice little video to sum things up...

Saturday, February 7, 2009

It has been a while since I was able to have a special night with my nieces, and I wanted to do something a little more special and a little less generic with them. Timing was perfect, because my cousin Mickey had the lead in the play "Peter Pan" at Weber State, so I immediately got tickets (good thing, because they sold out fast). This was too good of an idea, because Kimmie and Melissa wanted in on this one too, so they joined us for this one. We braved going out on a weekday, and went on Wednesday night. It was all worth it. Mickey was amazing, and the kids LOVED the play. Mia apparently had no idea that Peter Pan was our cousin until after the first act, and when the play was over, she immediately took to "crowing" just like Peter Pan, and then wondered if Mickey would recognize who we were when we went to wait for her in the Lobby. Emily Ty was funny as well, because she informed Melissa that if she were in the play, she would much rather play "Nana", which is the dog, or perhaps the crocodile. In both cases, she would be wearing a suit so nobody could recognize her, and have no speaking or singing parts. That was an interesting perspective.

In the lobby before the play, they sold a few treat items, and everyone got to pick out their own snack. Just another highlight of the night for the kids.

My Nieces & Nephews

My Favorite Sites

MY FAVORITE QUOTES

"There's no point to any of this. It's all just a... a random lottery of meaningless tragedy and a series of near escapes. So I take pleasure in the details. You know... a Quarter-Pounder with cheese, those are good, the sky about ten minutes before it starts to rain, the moment where your laughter become a cackle... and I, I sit back and I smoke my Camel Straights and I ride my own melt." - Reality Bites

"You'll see one day when you move out it just sort of happens one day and it's gone. You feel like you can never get it back. It's like you feel homesick for a place that doesn't even exist. Maybe it's like this rite of passage, you know. You won't ever have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it's like a cycle or something. I don't know, but I miss the idea of it, you know. Maybe that's all family really is. A group of people that miss the same imaginary place." - Garden State

"Nobody means what they say on Thanksgiving, Mom. You know that. That's what the day's supposed to be all about, right? Torture." - Home For The Holidays

"If you can't laugh at yourself, life's gonna seem a whole lot longer than you like." - Garden State